Reconstruction
by terrathrahn
Summary: First part in a short multi-parter detailing a hypothetical adventure of Anakin Solo following the Yuuzhan Vong war. I wasn't expecting to post this story, but inspiration struck and since it doesn't look like much work, I decided "what the hell?" I may go back and polish it after the series is finished, if I have the time.
1. Chapter 1

Star Wars: Reconstruction

The planet Juthruul was an unimportant little spitball, notably solely for its proximity to the Unknown Regions. Just at the moment, it boasted one other feature which made it of interest to the outside galaxy: a delegation of Yuuzhan Vong.

In the years since the Yuuzhan Vong war had ended, the surviving Vong had for the most part confined themselves to their new homeworld of Zonama Sekot, or Yuuzhan'Tar as they called it. However, small parties of Vong did occasionally make their way out into the wider galaxy—usually to worlds well outside their former invasion corridor—seeking trade or knowledge or asylum or adventure, or any of the other tangible or intangible riches which lured sentient creatures away from the familiarity of hearth and home to visit new worlds.

This particular group of Vong were apparently part of a burgeoning new religious sect composed mostly of members to the former priestly cast and Extolled Ones, who'd been granted minimal license to visit Juthruul's capital city of Usuna to study at an H'kig Monastery.

All of this information was only of academic interest to the Trandoshan mercenary Nessk. She and the other three members of her team had been hired by a group of wealthy Bothans to do one thing and one thing only: ensure that none of the Yuuzhan Vong left Juthruul alive.

Nessk and her Duros partner Enzede snuck through the corridors of the ninth level of Valatus Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Usune and a regular lodging house for visitors to the city. The two mercenaries were garbed head to toe—or head to claw, in Nessk's case—in regulation stormtrooper battle armor, two generations old, but fully restored and upgraded with some less-than-legal additions.

The Vong were being housed in the High Summer Suite, and according to all Nessk's informants, they would be sound asleep at this hour.

As Nessk approached the door to the Vong's room, she felt her muscles tensing in anticipation of the kill.

"I believe that's far enough," a voice said from the shadows further up the corridor. "Drop your weapons, if you please; we don't want to disturb the guests now, do we?"

Nessk cursed as she and Enzede both swung their blasters to point in the direction of the voice. How the vape had another creature—a human by its voice—managed to sneak up on them without their armors' sensors picking it up?

"Oh, I wouldn't do that," said the voice, and then with a distinctive _snap-hiss_, the unmistakable red-purple blade of a lightsaber erupted from the shadows. The glow cast by the newly-activated lighstaber revealed a humanoid figure robed in black, several centimeters shorter than Nessk and Enzede. "I say again, drop your weapons and this will go much easier for you."

"Who-who are you?" Nessk demanded, cursing herself now for the catch in her voice. With a bit more confidence she added, "What is your business here?"

"My business is to protect peaceful Yuuzhan Vong from the unthinking retribution of those who would hold all Vong guilty for the crimes of their leaders. You can tell Clan Hest'lya and the others as much, after I've finished with you. As for who I am well, my name," the figure said, reaching up its free right hand to pull back its hood, revealing an ugly pale pink face with a thin brown pelt on top of the head and just above its eyes; "my name is Anakin Solo."

"Anakin Solo," Enzede gasped. "Impossible, you-you're dead."

"I was," the black-clad human said. "I got better."

To be continued …


	2. Chapter 2

Situated just behind Valatus Tower, the Kremminer building looked like nothing so much as the other's ugly younger sibling. Where Valatus Tower seemed almost to reach up toward the stars in all its gleaming opulence, the Kremminer building stood squat and unkempt like a noxious amphibian.

On even slightly more cosmopolitan planets, buildings as dilapidated as the Kremminer would have been sequestered as far as possible from the likes of Valatus, so that the well-to-do patrons of the former could be spared the discomfort of having to look out upon the latter. The society on Juthruul, however, had not reached the point of such stratification—Kremminer's dinginess was a mark of its function as a used metals' refinery rather than the social status of the beings who frequented it. Most of those very beings could just easily be found in the halls of Valatus Tower at other periods in Juthruul's rotational cycle.

At four stories high, the Kremminer building was still the tallest structure directly adjacent to Valatus Tower—and this made it the perfect staging point for the mercenaries' backup. There were two of them stationed on the roof next to a sack of equipment a pair of high-powered, two-person speeder bikes. The two Niktos were alert, but not agitated. As far as they were concerned, everything was going according to plan.

Their first hint otherwise came when the Nikto on the right received a call on her communicator. She answered it, and her countenance grew increasingly confused and agitated as she listened to the voice on the other side.

It was, Tahiri judged, the perfect moment to make her presence known. She stood up from her hiding place atop the Kremminer building's emergency water cylinders and dropped to the roof, using the Force to slow her fall so that she alighted delicately in front of the Niktos.

"That will be my partner your friend is trying to tell you about," she told the one with the communicator. With a theatrical flick of her wrist she activated her lightsaber. "I hope for your friends' sake they don't give him too much trouble. The Yuuzhan Vong on this planet and in this galaxy are under our protection; any attempt at collective punishment against them will be repelled." She raised the lightsaber blade to point between the two Niktos. "We can repel this particular attempt peacefully, or not-so peacefully; your choice."

They were professionals, all right. Even before Tahiri had finished speaking, the two mercenaries were diving away in opposite directions, forcing her to split her attention between the two of them. Both drew blasters and opened fire.

Tahiri pirouetted, twirling her lightsaber almost casually and easily deflecting the spray of blaster bolts. She could have sent them back where they'd come from with only a little more effort, but she had no intention of killing or maiming these mercenaries unless she absolutely had to. _Murder is not the Jedi way._

At random, Tahiri chose one Nikto and spun towards her, still easily deflecting blaster bolts as she went. As Tahiri stepped within close range of the Nikto, she swung her lightsaber in an arc which neatly cut off the blaster's muzzle.

The mercenary immediately began fumbling for a backup weapon, but at this point Tahiri produced her backup weapon: a Stockhli spray stick. It was a little tricky dividing her attention between the Stockhli stick and swatting away the second Nikto's continuing spray of blasterfire, but she managed get working, and a minute the first Nikto was covered in a net of quick-hardening chemical spray. That should keep her out of trouble for a while.

Tahiri pivoted to face the second Nikto, only to discover that while her attention was otherwise occupied, the mercenary had drawn another blaster and activated a personal shield. She smirked at Tahiri from behind the shield's blue-white glow, as if to say "what now, Jedi?"

Tahiri matched the mercenary's smirk. While the combination of two blasters and a personal shield would be difficult for a Jedi to deal with, but hardly impossible. However, Tahiri had a better idea, prompted by something interesting she'd noticed about the equipment sack. "You don't know who you're dealing with, do you?" she said.

The mercenary stared blankly. That was all right, she'd understand soon enough. Tahiri reached out, not with the Force, but with her Vongsense, searching the equipment sack. Pure sabacc! Apparently, the mercenaries thought it would be cute to use the Vong's own weapons against them, culled from one of the millions of planet's the Yuuzhan Vong had seeded with their biotech during the invasion.

Tahiri sent out a silent coax, and was rewarded by a half a dozen razorbugs bursting out the side of the sack. The Nikto yelled out in mingled surprise and fear as the swarm descended upon her. Being made of matter rather than energy, the razorbugs could easily pass through the Nikto's personal shield, and any one of them was deadly enough to cut the mercenary to ribbons.

Fortunately, Tahiri had a greater level control over them, and directed the tiny beasts to focus on the Nikto's weapons in clothing. In only a few seconds they had reduced the mercenary's clothing to rags and her blasters to small heaps of shredded metal. Somewhere in there one of the bugs had also taken out the Nikto's personal shield, leaving her standing there helpless.

Through her Vongsense, Tahiri sent the razorbugs a feeling of good work, and instructed them to return to their nest and go back to sleep.

She raised her Stokhli stick again, just make sure the mercenary wouldn't cause any more trouble, when she hard a faint tinkle of transparisteel somewhere above her, and a flash of warning from the Force. Something was wrong.

She looked up to see a body falling from a window on the ninth level of Valtus Tower. It was Anakin.

To be concluded …


	3. Chapter 3

Anakin fell out of the sky. He'd caught the Trandoshan and the Duros in a Stockhli spray, but just as it was beginning to harden around them, the Trandoshan had tossed a concussion grenade. It hadn't been a particularly accurate throw, but it had managed to blow Anakin off his feet and right through a nearby window. Now he plummeted towards the ground nine stories below.

Anakin had faced death before. Heck, he'd experienced it once, and while he'd prefer not to experience it again for a long, long time, he was not overwhelmed by fear as most beings would be in his situation. There was a substantial amount of panic, but there was also analysis. He was not dead yet, and perhaps there was still something to do to preserve his life for the moment. What were his resources? His lightsaber? Useless. The Stockhli spray stick? He'd dropped it when the concussion blast hit, and anyway, it took too long to harden to be any use as a safety net or to latch onto the building. Ah, but he did have a grappling hook on his equipment belt.

All of this went through Anakin's mind in the first few seconds after he broke through the window. He fumbled at his equipment belt, doing his best not to fixate on the ever-looming proximity of the ferrocrete below. He pulled the pocket open and … stang, he'd forgotten to replace his grappling hook after that last mission.

From below him he heard a cry of desperation. He looked down to find the source—Tahiri, standing on the Kremminer roof, staring up at him. She was too far away for Anakin to make out her face clearly, but her voice carried clearly to him. She called his name, like a forlorn invocation against disaster.

Tahiri. He'd promised always to return to her. He'd already let her down once on that score. He'd be damned if he would do it again.

_Think_, _Anakin_, _think!_ Was there some way he could fashion a make-shift parachute out of the materials he had on him? His cloak would probably do nicely, but he doubted he could get it off in time for it to do him any good. Still, lacking any better ideas …

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He must remain calm, must concentrate. He could still survive this fall, but he would have to do everything just right.

He began to tug at one sleeve of his cloak, rolling it down his arm. It was ridiculously awkward, but Anakin's years of Jedi training came to his aid, lending him greater levels of focus and precision than he would normally be able to muster. His sleeve continued to unroll, then suddenly stopped and began to invert around his wrist.

Anakin cursed. He'd caught his sleeve against his glove, and instead of sliding neatly over the glove, it had begun rolling out again, although this time inside-out. He tugged at the sleeve, but it was firmly stuck against the glove. The seconds were slipping quickly away, he didn't have time to get his sleeve free.

No time for finesse, but maybe he still had a chance. If he could cut through the sleeve with his lightsaber … Wait, where was his lightsaber? He must have dropped it at some point after he'd gone through the window.

Anakin looked back to Tahiri, still standing on the Kremminer roof, much closer now. She was staring at him, as if he were carrying all the light in the universe with him, and she knew already that it was about to be snuffed out. He fixed her with his gaze, hoping that she would be able to see his face clearly. "I love you, Tahiri," he mouthed, speaking slowly to make sure she caught every word. "I'm sorry."

The look on Tahiri's face once he finished speaking was terrible to behold, and Anakin knew he would carry that image with him into to death. _In death_,_ there is the Force_, somehow, just at this moment, it wasn't a particularly comforting thought. He wanted to look away from Tahiri, but he couldn't tear his eyes off her, and even if he could, he owed her this much. There was little else he could do for her, now.

Then Tahiri's expression changed. She smiled, and Anakin felt his body, burning hot with adrenalin, suddenly chill.

Tahiri cried out as she saw Anakin fall. She watched him frantically search his person, and then tug at the sleeve of his robe, trying to pull it off. All this time, a voice in the back of her head screamed over and over, _No! Not again! Not again! Not again!_

Whatever Anakin was trying to do, it didn't seem to be working. His sleeve was stuck and he apparently couldn't find whichever tool he was searching for.

And then he turned to look directly at Tahiri, and he told her goodbye. She didn't have to hear his voice or read the words on his lips to know what he was saying to her. Now she was the one falling, as if a bottomless pit had suddenly opened right underneath. _No! Anakin! No!_

She took a step forward, toward edge of the Kremminer building's roof. _You're not leaving me behind again_, _Anakin_.

And then, without any warning, the answer came to her, blossoming full-formed in her brain like a chunthaa nightflower. Tahiri smiled up at Anakin, then closed her eyes. He wasn't going to leave her behind again.

With he eyes closed she could no longer see Anakin, but she could feel him, could pinpoint his exact location. She raised her hand and stretched out with the Force.

Anakin was still tingling all over from the eerie smile Tahiri had given him. He couldn't immediately discern its meaning, and his present circumstances were not exactly conducive to taking a few minutes to sit down and think about it. He was practically level with her now, and he watched in confusion as she closed her eyes and then held out her hand towards him.

For a moment, he didn't realize what was happening. Then he noticed that his acceleration was dropping, his fall was slowing. He looked back at Tahiri, and this time, he had no trouble reading the smile she was wearing—it was a smug, self-satisfied grin of the type Anakin's father often sported.

By this time, Anakin had essentially ceased falling and begun hovering. With apparent ease, Tahiri glided him the seven or eight meters horizontally it took him to float above the Kremminer building book. She then eased him down until he finally touched the surface as lightly as a feather.

As soon as he had secured his footing, Anakin sprinted towards her. Tahiri opened her eyes and rushed toward Anakin in turn, and they met a moment later in an embrace so powerful it spun them around nearly knocked them both off their feet.

Tahiri spoke his name over and over again, like a little prayer. "I love you, Tahiri," Anakin told her. "You were incredible." Then the fatigue of the last minute's activity caught up to him, and he sank unceremoniously to his knees. Tahiri still managed to keep her, feet and held him so that he could not fall any further. "Anakin," she whispered one last time, and planted a kiss on the top of his head.

They were both broken out of their reverie by a hissing rasp from behind Tahiri. Anakin looked up and Tahiri half turned to see two Niktos, one caught in a Stockhli web, the other dressed in ribbons but holding up a powerful-looking holdout blaster. The Niktos' aim wavered, but it pointed in their general direction.

"Hey!" Anakin called, and the Nikto focused its gaze on him. "I wouldn't."

The Nikto's expression turned questioning and Anakin indicated Tahiri with a tip of his head. She, in turn, gave the smile that was more Riina Kwaad, Yuuzhan Vong Shaper than anything else. The Nikto dropped its holdout blaster and fled.

"Well," Anakin said, "that's gotten rid of that one, and I see you've already seen to the partner."

"All taken care of," Tahiri said. "What about yours?"

"The same, though I was a bit too slow in neutralizing them, as you may have noticed."

"Oh, believe, I noticed. Don't ever scare me like that again, Anakin."

Anakin gave her a loving squeeze. "Now, if you wouldn't mind helping me back to my feet and retrieve my lightsaber, I think we can report this group of ne'er-do-wells to the local authorities, and let them handle the cleanup work. I doubt it will give them much trouble."

"No," Tahiri said, surveying the aftermath of her battle with the Nikto mercenaries. "I don't think they will at that. Come on, Anakin, let's go home."

Anakin smiled as she helped him to his feet. He was still wobbly, so she threw one of his arms over her shoulder and started walking. Home indeed, back to family and friends. It was certainly a reunion he looked forward to, but, Anakin reflected, his home was right there with him. He'd felt it when Tahiri said his name.

He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the temple. "Thank you."

She turned her head a little and smiled at him. "Thanks for what?"

"For being there for me?"

She chuckled. "Anakin, don't you know by now that I'm like the Force—I'll always be with you."

"Guess I just needed a reminder."

"Any time, Anakin. Any time at all."

The End.


End file.
